Straight Talk

I have to warn anyone that is considering bringing a brand new unlocked device that is not branded to any carrier. This means it has no extra software loaded on it and can access all 3 major carriers in the USA.

Typically GSM for ATT and T-Mobile and WCDMA for Verizon. There’s bands and frequencies involved as posted on this site.

Checking compatibility on Straight Talks site and seeing it say it’s good to go and then has you buy a BYOP SIM for $4.95+tax. This SIM is needed to activate your device on their network, swapping an active SIM into your new device may temporarily activate it until ST sees it on their system and they will cut off service.

I did this a few times now and found my new unlocked device worked fine but service was cut and after talking with an agent I was told I need to get a SIM for it and have it activated.

1st time I did it over the phone right after Verizon took control. I received the SIM card and went to activate it but they wouldn’t do it. Telling me then it wasn’t compatible even though they told me it was.

Had me buy a new phone from them or use my old phone that I swapped the once working SIM from. The SIM still worked fine in my old phone. I was using that SIM in my unlocked phone for 3 months before they cut it off.

Fast forward to this month and I got another brand new unlocked device and used their on line compatibility checker and it passes so they take me to a BYOP SIM page. 3 days later it arrives and I have a plan ready to register.

I go through the process and it says I have a SIM mismatch? I try again and same thing. I try my second EMEI and dame thing. In chat the same issue. I ask why isn’t it activating? They tell me something about a different SIM, I ask so are you going to send the right one? Nope , they don’t have any. Are you out of them, nope, never had them.

So why are you telling me it’s compatible and have the only SIM available not work after I pay $5+? I demanded a refund since it’s their mistake. They refuse, they won’t let me talk to a manager and have no more to say. I have been going back and forth looking for an answer that makes sense since I had this happen 2 years ago. I contacted the BBB and they started calling me to figure this out. Only problem is each time I go through the same thing as nothing is done, they won’t activate it no matter what and refuse to refund me.

They’ve been doing this for years, collecting money and never activate any non branded devices. I’ve wasted 12 or more hours on the phone and numerous rechecks for compatibility just be certain.

I have only been giving them my 1st EMEI up to that point except for that 1 time. Both were still compatible. May complaint is they never should have said it was good and sold me the SIM if they had no intention of activating it.

Then after 14 days I check it and the 1st EMEI is now incompatible! So they are now changing it but strangely the 2nd is still good? So they blocked my 1st one. Then corporate sends me an email wanting me to take pictures of the EMEI numbers. One thing I forgot was they told me I could activate if I had an old PINK SIM called “B” that uses T-Mobile? Now I’m not a phone genius but I’m pretty sure Verizon dropped all other carriers when they took over and that’s why my old ATT SIM quit working in my last unlocked.

Here’s where it gets good, I find my baggie full of sims and find an old T-Mobile ST SIM it’s not pink but it’s T-Mobile. That didn’t work and then I sent them pictures of all the sims I have from them and my EMEI numbers as well as the receipt for the BYOP SIM they burned me on.

Next week I check it and now both EMEI s are not compatible! So I got a new SIM through TracFone, same exact thing owned now by Verizon as well. Checked compatibility and it passes, also checked compatibility in simple mobile and it passed their check. The TracFone SIM I identical to the ST SIM. Same exact model number and they are interchangable just matters who you active though.

So I just went to Total which is another Verizon carrier and it passed their check as well. I also passed T-Mobiles , Cricket, Boost, ATT, and every other service you can imagine . Basically every service you can find on Amazon and Walmarts site have all passed the check

So ST is commiting fraud they advertise one thing, pass it , sell you a SIM with no intention of activating it. To confirm that I’m not the only one I went to walmarts site and saw every single person who left a review had the exact same experience! Same story about the B sim and never got activation or a refund.

I bought from their site after it checked it so I can’t say how many others they have done this too, without being able to leave a review it’s impossible to know what they’re doing. I see sales on Walmart have stopped now that’s there is a long list of 1 star reviews. I’ll bet there would be thousands of 1 stars on their web site had it had any way to leave a rating.

I’m trying to get a class action started on this, they’ve made many thousands of this scam and they still claim they’ll activate any unlocked device that’s compatible.

Since Total, Walmart family and TracFone all use the same service there’s no reason that one can be compatible and not the other. I have checked the bands used and what my phone can use and I see no problem.

Only thing I can see is they are either trying to make money off phone sales or they don’t want you to find out that they have built in software it hardware based throttling that’s independent of their system speeds and actual congestion.

Either way they won’t activate any globally unlocked devices and they never will.

Don’t fall for it I bought 3 months and after the 1st month my service went from 30 to 40mbs down to 7 to 8mbs as I just tested on Sunday at 9am used to be 40mbs or more at that time. I fully expect to see my service get even slower as I progress through the 3 monthd, then the week before it ends it will go back to normal in hopes that I’ll renew jt again. Not a chance, it’s just a way to trap you for 90 days and slow you’re service down knowing you’re not able to do a thing about it. You can just pay for another month and have fast service on another sim card and forget about those last 2 months of wasted money.

I only did it to get a free phone, not sure it was even worth it since I hate the phone. I know I’ll never prepay for more than 1 month at a time now that I see how underhanded Verizon is , I own stock in that company and it’s been losing value for the last 3 years steadily, how can a telecommunications company as big as Verizon be losing money in this day and age? If I wasn’t getting dividends from them I would have sold it years ago, they pay out a decent dividend but it’s been slightly reduced over the last 15 years.

It’s too bad that I can’t even recommend using a company that I own stock in, you’d think with all their sneaky stuff they pull and shady deals theyd be making tons of money unless thryre lying about their profits to screw over shareholders too! I honestly would not doubt it knowing how they operate.

I loved my Samsung J45 phone (Black Friday deal) and straighttalk service( great phone had for 8 years). In May of 2021 I purchased a new phone from straighttalk Samsung A50 online because I wanted a bigger screen. After work (15 miles away) it wont call home without restarting the phone. When I go out of town 400 miles away and try to call someone the call drops or tells me there’s no service. I use to recommend straighttalk, said I would never have anything else, said when everyone else’s phone wouldn’t work my was still working. Sadly that’s not the case anymore. Guess I’ll have to wait for the next supplier to come along.